Improvement in gas-retorts



No. 118,936. Patented se p.*12 1871. I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN D. HIGGINS, OF ROME, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN GAS-RETORTS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN D. HIGGINS, of Rome, county of Oneida, State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Gas-Retorts, ot' which the following' is a speciiicatiol'i:

My invention consists of a detachable plate, arranged to be fitted into a gas-retort at a point between the ch rge and the mouth of the standpipe, as fully described hereafter, the object of the said plate being to check or retard the gas to a certain extent in its passage toward the stand-pipe, so that the greater portion ofthe tar and other impurities may be disengaged from the same and fall to the bottom ofthe retort, instead of passing into and clogging and choking the stand-pipe, as usual.

Figure l is a sectional view of part of a gasretort with my improved check-plate; Fig. 2, a perspective view of the same; Fig. 3, an end View; and Fig. 4, a detached view ofthe checkplate.

A represents part of an ordinary gasretort, of which B is the mouth-piece, C, the detachable lid for closing the end of the latter, and D the standpipe connected to the top ofthe mouth-piece, as usual, and forming a communication between the interior ofthe retort and the hydraulic main, into which the gas as it is-generated is conducted. In retorts thus constructed the gas passes freely toward and into the stand-pipe, the consequence, especially when the gas is generated rapidly, being that a considerable quantity of tar and other impurities is carried with the gas and accumulates in and about the mouth of the stand-pipe, the latter being obstructed and frequently entirely closed up by this accumulation of tar, so that the dperation of the retort must be interrupted or discontinued until the lid C can be taken oif and the obstruction removed.

I have ascertained that this serious objection can be overcome by interposing between the stand-pipe and the charge in the retort a false lid or plate, F, which will, in a measure, check or retard the gas in its passage into the standpipe, and consequently permit the tar and other heavy impurities to become disengaged from the same and fall to the bottom of the retort at the front end oi the same, instead of accumulating within and about the entrance to the stand-pipe.

This plate F is made of about the saine shape as the interior of the retort, and is furnished with feet a a, which raise it above the bottom of the retort, so as to form a passage, b, beneath the same for the escape of the gas, although the lat ter can also pass in thin films around the edges of the said plate, between the saine and the sides of the retort. The check-plate is not attached in any way to the retort, but is merely slipped into the same after introducing the charge, the feet a a supporting the said plate, and maintaining it in a proper vertical or nearly vertical position. The plate can also be readily withdrawn from its position in the mouth-piece of the retort when it is necessary to remove the charge from the latter, the said plate, in other words, owing to the facility with which it can be removed and replaced, oliering no obstruction whatever to the charging or emptying of the retort, but serving, as before described, to prevent a too rapid flow of gas toward the stand-pipe, and the consequent accumulation. of tarry deposits within and about the mouth of the latter.

I claim- The combination, with a gas-retort, of a detachablc plate, F, arranged to be fitted into the retort so as to forni, at the lower edge, a contracted opening for the passage of gas, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. y

JOHN D. HIGGINS.

Witnesses:

J. l). ELY, A. J. ELMER. 

